Policy Making at the Second Tier of Local Government in Europe

What is happening in Provinces, Counties, Départements and Landkreise in the on-going re-scaling of statehood?
1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-0-415-84348-5
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 326 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 658 g

Reihe: Routledge Advances in European Politics

Debates about multi-level governance have led to a profound restructuring of regional and local government. The second level of local government is under review in most European countries, with the aim to strengthen the institutional capacity of municipalities or to develop appropriate institutional structures for governing fragmented urban areas.

This book provides a thematic and cross-national analysis of the key actors in local government that form the crucial components of effective and democratic policy making. Focussing on the second tier of local government, it examines new empirical data on councillors from this level of government in 15 European countries and integrates important variables such as party politics, notions of democracy, finance, multi-level settings. Divided into five parts, it addresses:

- Attitudes of county/provincial councillors towards administrative and territorial reforms;

- Their role perceptions and role behaviour;

- Their political orientation;

- Actor constellations and governance arrangements;

- Political socialization and recruitment, professionalization and career patterns of county/provincial councillors.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of local government, urban studies, regional studies, political science, sociology and geography.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bertrana, Xavier

Egner, Björn

Heinelt, Hubert

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction Hubert Heinelt, Björn Egner and Xavier Bertrana Part 1: Counties in multi-level systems and attitudes towards administrative and territorial reforms 2. The county council in a multi-level setting Anders Lidström 3. Reform of public administration and service fulfilment Max-Christopher Krapp 4. The county councils: between the revenues shortfalls and growing responsibilities Dubravka Jurlina Alibegovic and Suncana Slijepcevic Part 2: Role perceptions and role behaviour 5. The focus of representation: a comparative analysis of county presidents and county councillors in Europe Cristina Stanus and Daniel Pop 6. Notion of democracy and the role perception and behaviour of different actors at the second level of local governance Hubert Heinelt Part 3: Political orientation of key actors at the second level of local government 7. Party members and their ideological position over several political levels Björn Egner 8. Party Politics and County Government Colin Copus and David Sweeting Part 4: Actor constellations in varying governance arrangements 9. Actors and levels influencing county activities: Perceptions of councillors, presidents and leading bureaucrats Panos Getimis and Nikos Hlepas 10. Networks of political executives at the second level of local government Ilona Pálné Kovács and László Kákai Part 5: Political socialization and recruitment, professionalization and career pattern 11. The political career of county presidents and councillors in Europe Xavier Bertrana, Jaume Magre, Tony Valcke, Kristof Steyvers and Herwig Reynaert 12. Family, ambition, locality and party. A study of professionalization in the activation and apprenticeships of county presidents and councillors in Europe Eric Kerrouche 13. Political professionalization of county presidents and councillors in Europe Daniel Cermák and Dan Ryšavý

Über Autor(innen)

Hubert Heinelt is Professor of Public Administration/Public Policy and Urban Studies at the Institute of Political Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany.

Xavier Bertrana is a member of the Research Group on Local Government, University of Barcelona, Spain. He is also the Head of the Planning and Evaluation Unit of the Provincial Council of Barcelona.

Björn Egner is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Political Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany.